Content page 1 — sign of a disaster-page 2 — “before and will never be very accurate to say” On a page
read THE TIME: The volcano Etna erupted on Christmas eve. More quakes shake now Sicily. Soon, a larger outbreak?
Boris Behncke: The situation has calmed down a bit. But Etna is Hardly an outbreak is over, collects new Magma, the volcano works, so to speak, the next outbreak. This can take a couple of years, but sometimes only a couple of months.
TIME: you research since 1997, in Italy. The Eruption was a warning sign?
Boris Behncke
volcanologist at the Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania.
Behncke: The current eruption has been relatively small. But I know of at least five incidents from the past 200 years, in which within the first two to three years after a small outbreak of a larger came. And then a larger …
TIME: How dangerous it is?
Behncke: It could be in the worst case, hundreds of thousands of Sicilians to be affected. The volcanic ash would be transported in a powerful Explosion of hundreds of kilometres. Flying would be the difficult wind situation on Sicily or in southern Europe, and the health will be adversely affected. In Germany you have to have but don’t worry. The ashes are not worn to the North.
TIME: the Aeolian Islands North of Sicily, other volcanoes, such as the Grande Fossa are: Could it be that the eruption of mount Etna has more outbreaks?
Behncke: not more than indirectly. When a volcano erupts, it is rare that another follows.
TIME: located a bit further North of Stromboli is particularly active.
Behncke: The civil protection has now increased the alert level, but the Stromboli is known for the fact that he produced several times per hour, small to medium-sized explosions. Because I can say as a volcano nothing out of the ordinary Lodge.
TIME: Nevertheless, the danger comes from him. 30. In December 2002 collapsed in an outbreak, masses of rock into the sea, and a several-Meter-high flood triggered a wave, a Tsunami.
This article dates back to the TIME no 03/2019. Here you can read the entire issue.
Behncke: a large outbreak happens on the volcanic island of once or twice per decade. At that time, only a few people were injured, thank heavens. The Same is happening on a larger scale to the Krakatau volcano in Indonesia.
TIME: hundreds of people were killed by a Tsunami, tens of thousands were left homeless. Could such a thing happen in Europe?
Behncke: Every Time, when Lava from Stromboli flows down, we go immediately on the alert. A Tsunami would probably be a couple of meters high and, above all, Sicily meeting.
TIME: volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis – as Italy prepares itself for such events?
Behncke: We have internalized to train at the Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, the residents of the volcanoes for such situations, until the right reaction as an everyday Routine. And we inform about the social media.
